Belgium is very good at producing beer, chocolate and guns. In football, however, its players tend to be worthy and workmanlike rather than world class. A bit like England's present situation, or it would be but for the impact made on the Premier League this season by a 21-year-old Wallonian for whom Roman Abramovich was prepared to find £32m down the back of a sofa to bring him to Stamford Bridge.

Eden Hazard, regarded as the best Belgian footballer since Enzo Scifo, has already given Chelsea the equivalent of a brain transplant. His technique, movement and general awareness are promising to restore Roberto Di Matteo's team to the position of serious title challengers rather than mere contenders for one of the top four places.

Fernando Torres for one is at last looking the striker he was before Chelsea signed him from Liverpool for £50m at the beginning of 2011. The alacrity with which the Spaniard took Chelsea's second goal against Newcastle last weekend from Hazard's snappy backheeled return pass further allayed the notion that Anfield might just as well have sold Abramovich the Mersey Tunnel.

The coolness with which Hazard took the penalty that gave Chelsea the lead offered more evidence that here was a young player with his head sufficiently screwed on not to be turned by the usual distractions. Dick Advocaat, under whom Hazard played his first full match for Belgium, told him he needed to have more charisma, adding "he is a talent but he cannot be like that forever".

Should England ever unearth a similar talent few will be over-concerned about his charismatic qualities. By coincidence, Hazard has arrived in England just as the Premier League is embarking on an attempt to develop promising youngsters through the Barclays U21 League, which enables the clubs' academies to test their prodigies in competitive surroundings.

This is a start and the game is far from bare of young English talent. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and, when he is fit, Jack Wilshere will surely burgeon under Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, and only last Saturday Brendan Rodgers gave a 17-year-old winger, Raheem Sterling, his first start when Liverpool had the better of a 2-2 draw with Manchester City, the Premier League champions.

The alacrity and verve with which Sterling took on City defenders said much for the shrewd judgment of those at the Queens Park Rangers academy who took him on when he was 10. Then again, Anfield usually brings out the best in left-wingers and maybe Sterling will go on to emulate the likes of Billy Liddell, Peter Thompson and John Barnes.

Or maybe not. It is difficult to see how youthful promise will work out as players approach their twenties. Too many English prospects fade before they reach maturity from both a physical and a football point of view. Theo Walcott, once a formidable teenaged prospect, has been wrangling over a contract extension at Arsenal when, at 23, his career is in danger of levelling out with so much still to learn.

A familiar argument in England is that young footballers get too much too soon; too much money, too much media attention, too many temptations. Hazard's playing career began when he was four. Some nursery that must have been. His father was a semi-professional in the Belgian second division and his mother only stopped playing in the women's first division when she was three months pregnant with Eden. Hazard, it is safe to say, was born to be a footballer.

Whether or not a 5ft 7in, slightly-built 21-year-old will withstand the physical demands and sheer intensity of the Premier League remains to be seen. Playing for Chelsea is not quite the same as playing for Lille in the calmer waters of French football. Di Matteo will surely rest him when necessary.

England, meanwhile, will continue to pine for such a prospect. The nation thought it had found one in the summer of 1987 when a gifted 20-year-old caught the eye in the annual youth tournament in Toulon. Speaking to reporters he came across as a sensible, well-balanced character with the football world at his feet. Name of: Paul Gascoigne, a young wizard whose progress ended up owing more to Hogarth than Hogwarts.

Chelsea's Eden project looks to be on safer ground but some grounds are safer than others. In the Premier League no young player's education is complete until he has faced the Stoke City test.